Obama’s campaign on debates, defense cuts and coal
With President Barack Obama in Williamsburg preparing for Tuesday night’s debate against Republican rival Mitt Romney, Obama aides took time today to speak with Virginia reporters about the debate, the state of the race and key issues in the closing weeks of the campaign.
Virginia remains one of a handful of critical battleground states with three weeks remaining in the race. Romney will return to the state Wednesday with stops in Chesapeake and Leesburg. Obama will campaign in Fairfax County on Friday.
Obama campaign spokeswoman Jen Psaki said today that Obama has reviewed tape of his Oct. 3 debate with Romney – a debate that helped boost Romney’s poll numbers – and “is very energized about having a good performance tomorrow night.”
“His performance at the debate is certainly a factor, but it’s not the only factor,” Psaki told reporters today at Obama’s Virginia campaign headquarters in Richmond. “The people who are making their decisions about who to vote for or who to support are thinking about who is going to be a better fighter for them and who’s right on the issues that they care deeply about.”
Campaign appearances and ads also are important to communicating that message, Psaki said.
Obama carried Virginia in 2008, the first Democrat in 44 years to win the state’s presidential electoral votes. But most polls have the 2012 race in a virtual dead heat, with Romney gaining ground since the first debate and edging ahead in some surveys.
In Virginia, Romney and the state’s top Republicans have made a concerted effort to blame Obama for automatic defense spending cuts that could be triggered in January under bipartisan legislation that Congress passed in 2011 to increase the federal debt limit. The Budget Control called for a congressional “supercommittee” to come up with a long-term plan to reduce the deficit and for automatic spending cuts to occur if the panel failed.
The spending cuts will begin to take effect in January unless Congress and the White House come up with a deal to avert the fiscal cliff. The defense cuts could have a significant impact on Virginia’s economy.
“I think many of us supported those last August because they averted a worse scenario, which is a meltdown and an international crisis because we defaulted on our obligation,” said Gov. Bob McDonnell, a top Romney surrogate, on MSNBC ‘s “Andrea Mitchell Reports” today (the full interview is posted below). “But the point is after the supercommittee failed. . . I think it would take the leadership of a president to say, in a time of war, we cannot reduce this level of funding a trillion dollars over 10 years to our men and women in uniform.”
McDonnell, by the way, will be in Long Island Tuesday night working the post-debate spin room on Romney’s behalf.
Psaki noted that “Democrats and Republicans both voted for the trigger package.”
“And the thing about the trigger is you don’t want to pull it,” Psaki said. “And the president certainly doesn’t want to reach the point where we are putting in place these cuts. “
Psaki said Obama favors a balanced approach to deficit reduction that includes spending cuts, entitlement reforms and additional revenue. She said the gridlock exists because Republicans refuse to consider higher taxes for the wealthy.
“What they’re basically saying is that they will not put revenue on the table,” Psaki said. “The translation to that is tax increases for the highest income. And the president feels revenue has to absolutely be on the table, and that people who are halting it are saying preventing tax increases for millionaires and billionaires is more important than preventing these cuts to our defense and military programs , and to some of our other programs like Medicaid and Medicare that other people rely on on the other side.”
White House spokesman Jay Carney, who spoke by phone, added this: “One way to frame it, which I think is quite fair, is to say Republicans who oppose balance are willing to see draconian cuts in defense spending rather than ask billionaires and millionaires to pay a little bit more. They’re willing to see draconian cuts in domestic spending programs — in education, innovation and border security and other areas — rather than ask millionaires and billionaires to pay a little more, to pay only what they were paying under Bill Clinton, when we had record job growth and a record economic expansion.”
Psaki also was asked about the battle the two campaigns are waging over coal, a major issue in Southwest Virginia and in parts of the battleground state of Ohio. Republicans, on the stump and in campaign ads, have portrayed Obama as an enemy of the coal industry because of environmental regulations enacted by his administration. Obama’s campaign is airing an ad depicting Romney as anti-coal. The spot includes footage of Romney, as governor of Massachusetts, standing outside a coal-fired power plant and declaring, “I will not create jobs or hold jobs that kill people and that plant, that plant kills people.”
“When he was in Massachusetts he said coal plants kill people and his record is pretty clear,” Psaki said today. “If that’s a friend of the coal industry, then who needs friends?. So I think it’s an issue where the president thinks there are a number of different energy resources that need to be invested in, need to be a part of our strategy. Clean coal is one of them. “
“I think we’re going to continue to point out to people in Southwest Virginia and people in Ohio who are part of the coal industry and who care deeply about the coal industry that Mitt Romney is not friend of theirs,” Psaki said.
– Michael Sluss
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October 15, 2012 - 7:29 PM
On January 20, 2009 Republican Leaders in Congress literally plotted to sabotage and undermine U.S. Economy during President Obama’s Inauguration. In Robert Draper’s book, “Do Not Ask What Good We Do: Inside the U.S. House of Representatives” Draper wrote that during a four hour, “invitation only” meeting with GOP Hate-Propaganda Minister, Frank Luntz, the below listed Senior GOP Law Writers literally plotted to sabotage, undermine and destroy America’s Economy.
Frank Luntz – GOP Minister of Propaganda
Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI)
Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA)
Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA),
Rep. Pete Sessions (R-TX),
Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-TX),
Rep. Pete Hoekstra (R-MI)
Rep. Dan Lungren (R-CA),
Sen. Jim DeMint (SC-R),
Sen. Jon Kyl (AZ-R),
Sen. Tom Coburn (OK-R),
Sen. John Ensign (NV-R) and
Sen. Bob Corker (TN-R).Non-lawmakers present
Newt Gingrich
During the four hour meeting: The senior GOP members plotted to bring Congress to a standstill regardless how much it would hurt the American Economy by pledging to obstruct and block President Obama on all legislation.
Their plan was to blame the President for the consequences of their own destructive actions. Note that Paul Ryan was at that meeting in 2009.GOP/Koch kept their word, and blocked all job creation bills, including the Veterans Jobs Corps Bill – which GOP House blocked.
Now if Rob-Me should get elected are ALL of the PAWNS going to move so the RICH and REPUBLICON’S will be declared the winners and CHECKMATE???
Do you Republicon’s remember it has ONLY BEEN 4 YEARS SINCE YOUR LAST MESSIAH TOOK DOWN OUR COUNTRY and now you want BUSH’S DESCIPLE TO FINISH THE JOB????? You people have the attention span of a flea!!!
Right on Sandi and Mike Lofgren backs up the “plan” here”
http://mikelofgren.net/articles.html
“I am not a supporter of Obama and object to a number of his foreign and domestic policies. But when he took office amid the greatest financial collapse in 80 years, I wanted him to succeed, so that the country I served did not fail. But already in 2009, Mitch McConnell, the Senate Republican leader, declared that his greatest legislative priority was – jobs for Americans? Rescuing the financial system? Solving the housing collapse? – no, none of those things. His top priority was to ensure that Obama should be a one-term president. Evidently Senator McConnell hates Obama more than he loves his country. Note that the mainstream media have lately been hailing McConnell as “the adult in the room,” presumably because he is less visibly unstable than the Tea Party freshmen.”
I wish the media would concentrate on the truth being told when people come out of the bubble.
If he gets elected, I’ll buy you a plane ticket to Greece.
Their plan was to blame the President for the consequences of their own destructive actions
Comment by Sandy — October 15, 2012 @ 9:05 pm
Sandi,
Lypocrisy! Everyone knows that from 2006 to 2010 the Democratic Party maintained majority of both the House and the Senate and, after 2008, had
the White House also. The economic destruction you bemoan is 100.0% caused by Democrat economic policy owned by Obama. The high unemployment,
slow growth and recovery and $16.0 Trillion in debt all belong to Obama.
Nice try, but Walking Eagle does not get to change historical facts nor,
do you.
Barack Obama- “If somebody wants to build a coal power plant they can, it’s just that it will bankrupt them because they are going to be charged a huge sum for all that greenhouse gas that’s being emitted,” said to the San Francisco Chronicle (2007)
SWVA for Romney!
Leon, does it ever bother you being wrong? It seems you do it a lot. Do you even know that a majority now has to mean a “super-majority” to get anything done? Do you know Mike Lofgren is a 28 year veteran of the DC GOP? He is telling the truth. You should try it. The person here who is trying to “change historical facts” and distort the plain truth, is you.
You and the other “low information” voters may well believe that the destruction of the economy and the problems of this nation are on the Dems, but reality and the truth are a different version for a reason.
“Denial is more than a river”.
Kathie, your “generosity” is typical of the right wing. Mean and judgmental.
The President must not have a high regard for our intelligence. For example, in the recent debate, he defended his rejection of the Keystone XL Pileline from Canada by claiming we supposedly built enough pipeline to wrap around the Earth.
Whether this is true or not is immaterial. Prices are dictated by supply and demand. The Keystone pipeline was a major project which would have increased the supply of energy, thus exerting downward pressure on its price.
By personally rejecting that pipeline to appease extremists, Obama missed an opportunity to attempt to make energy more affordable, reduce our dependence on foreign energy, and in the process create many more jobs.
We need to develop all resources that we can, not just some of them.
Thus merely claiming that we already have pipelines that circle the globe only evades the issue.
How gullible does he think we are?
“How gullible does he think we are?”
You’re gullible enough not to know that work has already begun on Keystone or you’re spreading the partisan wharrgarble. Try and keep up!
Also you’re clearly gullible enough not to know that NONE of the oilf carried to the Gulf Coast in the Keystone pipeline is slated to reduce OUR
dependency on foreign oil because the Canadian company that wants to build it has already contracted to sell all the oil it transports to China.
This is oil that is currently helping to keep prices down in the midwest, which will now be shifted overseas, driving up prices in midwesterjn states and not helping to decrease our dependence on foreign oil in any way.
What it will do is make Americans, including John Boehner, who have invested large amounts of money in it, to get wealthier.
Its also notable that a primary state through which the pipeline will pass, Nebraska, which is domina6ted by a Republican Governor and Legislature, have opposed the pipeline’s location as a signifucant environmental issue in that state.
Buying the Romney kool aid and the msleading ads from the so called Energy Alliance just shows a clear lack of real thought and applied intelligence on this matter.